Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS, recently checked in from the set of Truth, a feature film about Dan Rather’s abrupt departure from CBS News in 2005 in the wake of reports that raised questions about George W. Bush’s military service during the Vietnam War. Robert Redford portrays Rather, and Cate Blanchett plays CBS producer Mary Mapes, who was fired for her role in the incident. Directed by James Vanderbilt, the production is currently shooting in Australia, in part to allow Blanchett some time close to home. Mandy says Truth is an elaborate story that’s heavy on dialogue; the story unfolds in...

It’s been nearly eight years since Dan Rather’s long career at CBS came to a close after he ran a story that could have derailed President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection. Instead, the story about Bush’s supposedly questionable National Guard service wound up giving the media a black eye after some of the documents used to in the report turned out to be fake. Nonetheless, Rather is still at it, making the case that he was in the right and that the only reason he was forced out at CBS was because of pressure from his corporate superiors. Rather made...

Be kind to Bob Shrum. Perhaps the 68-year old is suffering from the not-so-early-onset of some dread memory-loss syndrome. How else to explain his suggestion on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show this evening that the National Restaurant Association's settlement for a relatively modest sum, in today's litigious world, proves that Herman Cain must have done something wrong? Does the failed presidential campaign consultant's support of Bill Clinton, despite his much larger, $850,000 settlement with Paula Jones while "adamantly denying" her claims, fire any synapses in Shrum's cerebrum? View the video here.

A 70 plus age retired Texas Air National Guard Lt. Colonel has been diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer. During the Bush debate in the media concerning whether or not Bush completed his obligation to the State of Texas, this is the guy the Bush people requested to review his service records. Please offer prayers for my friend.

Media Bias: Veteran reporter, author and commentator Bernard Goldberg reports that when CBS News did its fake National Guard story on George W. Bush avoiding service in Vietnam, it knew it was a lie.It's a liberal urban legend that Bush used the influence of his father and his father's friends to land a cushy position in the Texas National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam. The Democrats would run John Kerry as a hero in the war, and CBS News was all too eager to help with Mary Mapes producing a "60 Minutes II" segment in September 2004 charging exactly...

This story by Bernard Goldberg certainly takes me back to the early days of my blogging career. Shortly after the 2004 Republican convention, Mary Mapes produced a segment for 60 Minutes II that alleged that George W. Bush had manipulated his enlistment in the Texas Air National Guard to avoid serving in combat in Vietnam. The documents used by CBS, Mapes, and Dan Rather turned out to be clumsy hoaxes, which the blogosphere exposed through careful review of their substance and their form (the latter of which I played a small part in refuting, with my expertise in printing and...

Bernard Goldberg is getting a good bit of attention for something he said on O'Reilly tonight -- that documents show the CBS investigation in 2004 revealed that George Bush volunteered to fly combat missions in Vietnam. The following is from his website, Bernard Goldberg.com (via Newsbusters):

In 2007, Rather filed his $70 million lawsuit against his old company saying he wasn’t allowed to defend his story because the top management of CBS’ parent company, Viacom, wanted to appease the Bush Administration and protect its business interests. Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents – a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about – and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is...

Over 1,100 years ago, an international crew of men set sail on a perilous journey. They are returning home from Tang Dynasty China with rare ceramics and gold, created by ninth-century Chinese craftsmen, desired by the rest of the world. For centuries, China has traded with the West over land, via the Silk Road. They traveled safely from the Middle East, all the way to China. But on their return voyage, they made a fateful decision. Here, off the coast of Indonesia, the reef-filled waters are so deadly that ancient sailors called the area the Treacherous Bay. Tilman Walterfang was...

Note: Photo included. PHOTO CAPTION: "Businessman Weizhen Tang has been accused of taking more than $40 million from more than 100 investors." "Weizhen Tang to defend against Ponzi allegations" Jun 11, 2009 04:30 AM MADHAVI ACHARYA-TOM YEW BUSINESS REPORTER SNIPPET: "The charges include securities fraud, unregistered trading in securities, illegal distributions of securities and making prohibited undertakings with the intention of effecting trades in securities, which were alleged to have taken place between Jan. 1, 2006, and March 31, 2009. The province's Securities Act states that no person or company can give written or oral representations on the future value...

When Dan Rather filed suit against CBS 14 months ago -- claiming, among other things, that his former employer had commissioned a politically biased investigation into his work on a "60 Minutes" segment about President Bush's National Guard service -- the network predicted the quick and favorable dismissal of the case, which it derided as "old news." So far, Mr. Rather has spent more than $2 million of his own money on the suit. And according to documents filed recently in court, he may be getting something for his money. Using tools unavailable to him as a reporter — including...

NEW YORK - A New York City judge says he wants to see documents that passed between a law firm and a panel CBS hired to investigate a Dan Rather story on President Bush. Judicial Hearing Officer Ira Gammerman told attorney David Versfelt on Wednesday to let him examine the papers so he can decide whether Rather's lawyers may see them. Versfelt's law firm was hired to advise the panel. Versfelt says the papers are protected by attorney-client privilege.

Military providing free healthcare to everyone 09:45 PM CDT on Thursday, August 7, 2008 By Allison Triarsi / 11 News BROWNSVILLE, Texas—The Air National Guard at Ellington Field stands ready to protect our borders both on land and at sea. Part of that duty includes providing free medical care to everyone. That is evident at a school in Brownsville where soldiers along with our state’s health and human services department help those in need. “We’re protecting our people and that’s our job,” said Master Sgt. Marcus Falleaf who is with the Air National Guard. But does that job include protecting...

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

A bomb-laden van found on a Brooklyn street by a car thief was wired to detonate by remote control, and had likely been sitting there for more than five months... Investigators believe the homemade explosives found Thursday night in the Ford Econoline belonged to Yung Tang, 39, a Chinese national. He has been behind bars since he was caught Jan. 29 in Wallingford, Conn., with nearly identical bombs in his Mazda MPV minivan. Also found in the MPV were two silencers, four hollow-point bullets and two radio-controlled detonators. Days after that arrest, the NYPD searched his Brooklyn house and found...

First on TVNewser: Dan Rather's lawyers have served CBS with an amended complaint related to Rather's fraud case against his former employer. The complaint will be filed with the court tomorrow morning. TVNewser has learned the amended complaint contains details about Rather's last days at CBS including, we hear, particulars about that flawed National Guard Story. -snip-

A British terror gang plotted to use liquid explosives to blow up transatlantic passenger jets in mid-flight, a court heard today. Eight men planned to smuggle bombs disguised as soft drinks on to flights from Heathrow to the United States and Canada and detonate them on board, Woolwich crown court was told. It would have caused a civilian death toll on an "almost unprecedented scale" and a "global impact". The gang allegedly targeted seven flights operated by Air Canada, United Airlines and American Airlines. They were arrested in August 2006 after a surveillance operation — as they were "almost ready"...

It looks like the judge in Dan Rather’s lawsuit against CBS may let the case go to trial. But the fascinating thing about this Associated Press article on the case is how they describe the Rathergate scandal—without even mentioning that it was based on fake documents. Rather was removed from his “CBS Evening News” post in March 2005, six months after he narrated a report that said Bush disobeyed orders and shirked some of his duties during his National Guard service. The report also said a commander felt pressured to sugarcoat Bush’s record.

I love Rathergate. It is soooo satisfying on soooo many different levels. First of all there is the main player himself, Dan Rather, who is a flat out loon. Over the years it was FUn to watch Dan because you knew that underneath that thin veneer of sanity lurked a raving lunatic who was struggling to break out and frequently did. Then there is the fact that Rather was ultimately brought down by his own bias by using FAKE documents in an attempt to throw the 2004 election away from President Bush. Added to this is the fact that...

The present US president George Bush was trained to intercept Soviet bomber carrier TU-95 Bear aircraft while he was in the Texas Air National Guard. The US archives and retired colonel William Kampenii, Mr. President’s fellow soldier since 1970 till 1971 have proved this fact. ‘Pilots from Air National Guard used to intercept TU-95 regularly. The Bears used to make patrol flights, the aircrafts were usually intercepted along the eastern US coast, sometimes just near Cuba,’ says colonel Kampenii. George Bush J. reminisces in his autobiography A Charge To Keep how they were taught to direct to the target with...

Dan Rather's lawsuit at CBS achieved its first purpose; it's put Dan Rather back in the spotlight. After having disappeared into the black hole of HDNet, Rather once again has become noteworthy enough to get an invitation on Larry King Live and the rest of the talkshows. However, if he had hoped to resurrect his reputation with the lawsuit, his colleagues have not been impressed (via QandO): Rather’s former colleagues at CBS have something to say. Take, for example, Don Hewitt, the legendary producer of “60 Minutes.” “Any news organization, print or broadcast, has the right to protect its reputation...

Dan Rather, whose career at CBS News ground to an inglorious end 15 months ago over his role in an unsubstantiated report questioning President Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service, filed a $70 million lawsuit this afternoon against the network, its corporate parent and three of his former superiors. Mr. Rather, 75, asserts that the network violated his contract by giving him insufficient airtime on “60 Minutes” after forcing him to step down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005. He also contends that the network committed fraud by commissioning a “biased” and incomplete investigation of the flawed...

CAMP MABRY, Texas – The Texas Army National Guard has recruited 3,478 new Soldiers so far this fiscal year, needing only nine months to surpass the year-end goal of 3,300 set by the National Guard Bureau. “It’s terrific that we have already achieved our year-end recruiting goals,” Lt. Gen. Rodriguez Adjutant General of the Texas Military Forces said. “Most importantly, we have met this quantitative goal while ensuring a very high quality of Soldier accessions. The Texas National Guard maintains very high standards and strictly enforced enlistment criteria.” Lt. Col. Ron McLaurin, Commander for Recruiting and Retention for the Texas...

Title Can the internet ever produce a purity of consent? A case study of Rathergate. Introduction On September 8th 2004, memos by the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian purporting to show that a subordinate of his, one George W. Bush, had a less than perfect war record during the Vietnam conflict, were aired by CBS show 60 Minutes II. I believe no academic study on this topic exists. A search of the Proquest dissertations database reveals no existing work. There are several books extant which subjectively cover the episode from various points of view. I will utilise these as...

Declaring he “absolutely” believes “the truth” of his discredited story based on forged memos, about President Bush's National Guard record, on Wednesday's Larry King Live on CNN Dan Rather contended that “we had a lot, a lot of corroboration, of what we broadcast about President Bush's military record. It wasn't just the documents.” Rather then attacked those who dared to expose his misdeeds: “It's a very old technique used, that when those who don't like what you're reporting believe it can be hurtful, then they look for the weakest spot and attack it, which is fair enough. It's a diversionary...

But let's have a show of hands: How many knew he was still there? It is a classic case of karma. For years he held a power that Presidents couldn't match. He could go home after the interview and edit remarks, leak themes, and shape expectations so thoroughly that viewers would see what they were told they would see -- and only that. He could raise questions, balance or imbalance carefully weighted views, cast doubts, editorialize while claiming merely to report, meet politicians personally, get to know them, carry grudges, foist off partisan schemes as if they were news, critique...

It's over. After 44 years, Dan Rather will leave CBS by the end of the month, at the latest, industry sources said Friday. His departure could come as early as next week. Rather, 74, whose contract runs until late November, is working out the final details of his exit agreement, the sources say. Money is not an issue, they say. Among the sticking points: Whether Rather will have access to his archival CBS material. CBS issues its standard non-denial denial: "Dan is a 60 Minutes correspondent, and we don't comment on contractual matters." Rather declined to comment. Anchor of CBS...

Kudos again to FR, Buckhead, Howlin, Texasforever, NYCVirago, and of course Jim for having this site to begin with. "Chapter 9 "We're Toast" pg 143 - 145 directly credits Freepers above with uncovering the "missing Documents" out of President Bush's National Guard Service that were distinctly unflattering to the President, and also flat forgeries. I am reading the book at the moment, and I wanted to pause and give credit where credit is due. I thank all those who helped bring to light these roaches that considered themselves so important as to try to influence a Presidential Election. I thank...

Presidents are often memorialized in their most famous moments -- George Washington crossing the Delaware, Theodore Roosevelt at San Juan Hill. Now President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard has been immortalized in bronze. The National Guard Association of the United States yesterday unveiled a bust of a young Lt. George W. Bush. The association expressed its pride in Bush, who is perhaps its most famous alumnus around today. Bush's service may still be a bit of a sore subject for him, though. He seemed no more eager to talk about it yesterday than he did in his...

CBS Evening News contained a brief segment tonight called "State of the Media" which (among other things) discussed the impact of bloggers on traditional media. The most interesting sentence (for me) occurred in a discussion of the infamous 60 Minutes II show in 2004 concerning George Bush's alleged special treatment in the National Guard. According to the CBS announcer, when questionable documents were used in the show, "bloggers quickly EXPOSED them" (emphasis added).

On January 27, Fred Barnes, on the Diane Rehm radio show, told Diane that he would get back to her by January 30 with his source(s) for the story about Bush volunteering for Vietnam. Did anyone listen to the January 27 show? Did Fred get back to Diane? What was the outcome?

Have you noticed how quickly CBS ex-producer, Mary Mapes, has faded from public view? Her book bombed bigtime because NO ONE except for a few diehard loonies bought her completely unbelievable story. Mapes still contends that the obviously forged Texas Air National Guard documents that purported to prove that Bush was AWOL were authentic and that even if they were fake, the story is still somehow valid. Even many Liberals were embarrassed by Mary Mapes and hoped she would just go away. About the only TRUE BELIEVERS I have been able to find were, of course, in DUmmieland as...

A former Texas Lottery official said he wants to talk to senators about the Supreme Court nominee's role in covering up his Bush's record WASHINGTON -- A former Texas lottery official, who claimed that then-Gov. George W. Bush's desire to cover up his National Guard record helped steer decisions about a key lottery contract, said he wants to talk to senators about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' possible role in that effort. "If I were to be subpoenaed to come to the thing, I would come," said Lawrence Littwin, who filed a lawsuit after he was fired as the lottery's...

WASHINGTON -- A former Texas lottery official, who claimed that then-Gov. George W. Bush's desire to cover up his National Guard record helped steer decisions about a key lottery contract, said he wants to talk to senators about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' possible role in that effort. "If I were to be subpoenaed to come to the thing, I would come," said Lawrence Littwin, who filed a lawsuit after he was fired as the lottery's executive director in 1997. "I would say the committee, I think, would be interested." Littwin claimed in a federal lawsuit that lottery operator GTECH...

Although a few of Mary Mapes divorced-from-reality quotes appeared in yesterday's EDITION of the DUmmie FUnnies, there was MUCH MORE of her MANY lies over at her book EXCERPT at Amazon.Com. Even though Mapes' book won't be appearing in public until next month, there are more than enough excerpts available on Amazon for her to completely humiliate herself before the public. Therefore this edition of the DUmmie FUnnies is dedicated to DUFUing Mary Mapes who although technically might not be a DUmmie (although I suspect that she might well be a DUmmie with an appropriate screen name like "HateBush")...

As many of you might remember, the DUmmie FUnnies blog began with coverage of the DUmmie reaction to the forged Texas Air National Guard Memos presented on a the CBS 60 Minutes II show hosted by Dan Rather. At the time of the exposure, Dan Rather insisted the memos were really authentic. Rather kept INSISTING on the authenticity of those obviously forged memos even when it was proven beyond a shadow of doubt that they were fake. After Dan Rather retired was fired from CBS News, he changed his tune a bit by saying that even though the memos...

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (Sept. 22, 2005) -- Texas Air National Guard personnel returning home from Hurricane Katrina duty had just enough time to catch up on sleep before receiving the order to repack their bags. Now they are preparing to deal with the aftermath of another hurricane – Rita – this time on the Texas coast. Members of the 149th Fighter Wing, based on Lackland, will be part of a package of 400 personnel and equipment, named Task Force Seguin, which is part of the 1,750-member Joint Task Force Texas, formed after Gov. Rick Perry directed Texas Military...

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (Sept. 6, 2005) -- Just days after Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of Louisiana, members of the 149th Fighter Wing started heading for the Bayou State to assist victims of the disaster. A medical task force was first to leave Aug. 31, deploying a mobile medical support kit. At the New Orleans Convention Center, the Texas National Guard was the primary medical resource Friday and Saturday, running a triage system to evacuate those needing serious medical attention, and providing treatment on the spot to others. The fighter wing’s “medics” have even delivered babies. That same day, 48...

SINGAPORE said overnight it had deployed three of its air force helicopters from its Texas detachment to assist in relief operations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) CH-47 Chinook helicopters would be based at Fort Polk, Louisiana, during the mission, said a Singapore Defense Ministry statement issued by the city state's embassy in Washington. "Singapore's Chinook helicopters will be working closely with the Texas Army National Guard in their disaster relief operations," it said, adding that the aircraft would undertake resupply and airlift missions. Thirty-eight RSAF personnel, comprising pilots, aircrew and technicians, are...

Complaint Against Kerry, CBS Dismissed By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago Election officials have thrown out a complaint against John Kerry's presidential campaign and CBS over a now-discredited story that questioned President Bush's National Guard service. The Federal Election Commission, in a 6-0 ruling, said there was no reason to believe the allegations raised by the Center for Individual Freedom over the story that aired on CBS' "60 Minutes Wednesday" in September. The politically conservative group contended the report amounted to an illegal election-time advertisement against Bush that was financed with corporate money; that CBS improperly coordinated...

Ken Paulson took over as editor at USA Today in the wake of the Jack Kelley scandal. Kelley had embarrassed the paper by writing a series of stories filled with lies. Paulson said that would never happen again. Then, he presided over USA Today's own version of the CBS Memogate scandal. Like CBS, USA Today used those bogus documents to discredit President Bush's National Guard service. But Paulson managed to exercise a form of damage control because CBS used the documents first and put them on TV. Paulson acted as if the scandal was confined to CBS. Many in the...

Interesting irony on Larry King last night. First King interviewed Woodward & Bernstein, the two men responsible for breaking one of the biggest stories of the century with the help of an anonymous source we now know was the number two man at the FBI. In the next hour King interviewed Dan Rather, the man responsible (at least in part) for one of the bigger journalistic bungles in the modern era, rushing to air a story based on forged documents from very dubious sources to try and influence the outcome of a presidential election. It's clear that Rather is still...

NEW YORK - CBS said Wednesday it is cancelling the Wednesday edition of "60 Minutes," insisting the decision was made because of poor ratings and not last fall's ill-fated story about President Bush's military service Dan Rather, the newsmagazine's lead correspondent, will contribute stories to the Sunday edition of "60 Minutes," said CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves. "This was a ratings call, not a content call," Moonves said Wednesday. The newsmagazine spinoff was where Rather reported last September that Bush skirted some duty while in the Texas Air National Guard and a commander felt pressure to sugarcoat an evaluation of him....

Cliff Kincaid, editor of Accuracy in Media (AIM), commented that, "Rather's reference to Abu Ghraib, in the context of preparing the bogus attack on Bush, demonstrates that the agenda of Rather and CBS was not only to sabotage Bush's re-election campaign but to undermine the war in Iraq. They were looking for 'big' stories to hurt the U.S. at home and abroad. The Abu Ghraib story on CBS inflamed the Arab/Muslim world against the U.S., inevitably costing the lives of more American soldiers in Iraq at the hands of fanatical Muslim terrorists." AIM and Romerstein drew attention to another bombshell...

Now that the brouhaha over Dan Rather's "Memogate" scandal is no longer front-and-center in the national media, one has to wonder why there's been no closure to the issue of the documents themselves. Bill Burkett, the supplier of the documents to CBS, changed his story on the source of the documents, ultimately claiming that one "Lucy Ramirez" gave them to him. No one even knows who Lucy Ramirez is, if she exists of if she's another figment of Burkett's imagination. Surely, a scoop on where the documents came from would be huge. Reporters, even those at CBS could be working...

Can nothing spare us from the arrogance of liberal media figures, still parading around as Guardians of the Facts and Solely Anointed Professional Disseminators of the Truth? Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank, in what reads like an early April Fools’ prank, has written an article for the Post’s Sunday "Outlook" section presenting himself as an objective reporter. The headline was "My Bias for Mainstream News." In it, he complains that the "cottage industry" of watchdog groups on the right and left "are devoted almost entirely to attacking the press." The most priceless sentence is this: "Regardless of the merits, the...

Dan Rather's CBS' 60 Minutes Hit Piece on President Bush's Air National Guard Service Tied Left-Wing Media Myths in with Fraudulent Memos Response to "Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers"-- 8 p.m. EST on March 9, 2005 Dan Rather and Mary Mapes are still embracing the veracity of content of their 60 Minutes fraudulent memos aired on September 8, 2004 . They need to re-read the Report of the Independent Review Panel "Concerning President Bush's Air National Guard Service" by Dick Thornburgh and Louis D. Boccardi. For a fair perspective of President Bush's Air National Guard (ANG) Service, suggest reading "Bush...

Dan Rather and Mary Mapes are still embracing the veracity of content of their 60 Minutes fraudulent memos aired on September 8, 2004. They need to re-read the Report of the Independent Review Panel “Concerning President Bush’s Air National Guard Service” by Dick Thornburgh and Louis D. Boccardi. For a fair perspective of President Bush’s Air National Guard (ANG) Service, I suggest reading “Bush and I were lieutenants““ by Col. William Campenni (retired), and my article: Bush and Uncommon Valor,as well as “Bush’s Air National Guard Years“ by Byron York. For a better understanding of the Dan Rather scandal, I...

Response to "Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers" to air 8 p.m. EST on March 9, 2005. Dan Rather and Mary Mapes are still embracing the veracity of content of their 60 Minutes fraudulent memos aired on September 8, 2004. They need to re-read the Report of the Independent Review Panel “Concerning President Bush’s Air National Guard Service” by Dick Thornburgh and Louis D. Boccardi. For a fair perspective of President Bush’s Air National Guard (ANG) Service, suggest reading “Bush and I were lieutenants” by Col. William Campenni (retired), my article: Bush and Uncommon Valor and "Bush's Air National Guard Years"...

<p>If CBS CEO Leslie Moonves had hoped the investigation by an independent panel into the network's botched "60 Minutes Wednesday" feature regarding President Bush's National Guard duty would be enough to put the controversy behind the media giant, recent days have brought him unsettling developments. Five weeks after the panel issued its 224-page report; those it singled out for wrongdoing are fighting back -- taking issue with the investigation as well as the Viacom-owned network. The new rumblings suggest that the sour taste of CBS's National Guard story may linger for months to come. And it will almost certainly remain beyond the network's planned farewell next month for longtime anchor Dan Rather, who was the on-camera reporter for the story.</p>